Shaedon Sharpe - Kentucky

[clyde21]

he's not as bouncy as Jalen Green, doesn't float as long either, but he's def a great athlete, probably Antman tier.

same great athletes at the 2-hole these last few yrs, Antman, Green, now Sharpe and Ivey (Ivey i think is in a lower than than the others but he's a good athlete in his own right).

[K_chile22]

he's not as bouncy as Jalen Green, doesn't float as long either, but he's def a great athlete, probably Antman tier.

same great athletes at the 2-hole these last few yrs, Antman, Green, now Sharpe and Ivey (Ivey i think is in a lower than than the others but he's a good athlete in his own right).

I think Sharpe is an elite vertical athlete but he doesn't have even a great first step, whereas guys like Green and Ant have an elite one, so he is a little concerning in the half court

[babyjax13]

he's not as bouncy as Jalen Green, doesn't float as long either, but he's def a great athlete, probably Antman tier.

same great athletes at the 2-hole these last few yrs, Antman, Green, now Sharpe and Ivey (Ivey i think is in a lower than than the others but he's a good athlete in his own right).

I think Sharpe is an elite vertical athlete but he doesn't have even a great first step, whereas guys like Green and Ant have an elite one, so he is a little concerning in the half court

I agree he's not nearly as explosive looking, but it's hard when the tape we have is mainly high school, he could be a lot more bursty now with his body developing. I think you kind of hope that he turns into a Jason Richardson type player, who was less explosive in the half-court than he was in the open-court, but was still obviously an incredible athlete and actually had quite a high skill-level.

[Duke4life831]

There is no denying Sharpe is a great athlete. But like I said on the first page of this thread when people were talking about how he measured a 49 inch vert. LaVine tested with a 46 ", Zion a 43", Ant 41", Cassius Stanley (not a great player but ridiculous hops) 44". When I watch Sharpe I dont see a guy with a 3" lead over LaVine when it comes to hops.

So its either one of two things,

1. These vert tests that say he has a 49" vert are drastically exaggerating (very easy to do and we see it often)
2. He is a better open gym athlete and it doesnt completely translate to in game athleticism.

With #2 I want to be crystal clear, this isnt me saying he isnt a functional in game athlete, he no doubt is. But again watch Sharpe then watch some old tapes of the other guys I mentioned, youre not seeing a guy that is significantly more explosive then those guys. In all honesty I have him athletically below guys like LaVine, Jalen, and Ant. LaVine to me is more explosive and a better overall athlete. Jalen is far more twitchy than Sharpe, those initial burst by him are on just a completely different tier. Ant is just a lot bigger and stronger and I think has a better first step as well.

Again to clarify, Sharpe is a great athlete. But I think the whole point of dropping these (49" vert!) reports is to kind of portray him as this freak once in a decade+ kind of athlete. I dont think he is that. I think you put him on the same floor as LaVine (healthy), Jalen, and Ant. The majority would probably walk away thinking he is 3rd or 4th in that group.

[mojo13]

From a year ago...

Read on Twitter

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Not that I can tell from this vid what he actually touches.
But I do wonder if he does the combine to prove it out. Probably not right?

[SelfishPlayer]

Sharpe has deceptive tape regarding his maximum athleticism. His speed isn't rare, but when he really wants to explode off the floor vertically it is special.

[MemphisX]

Lol, no way he recorded 49 in. Inflated vertical basically means artificially deflated/fudged height/wingspan numbers. Sharpe is gonna skip combines.

All Sharpe's camp does is lie. I have very bad feelings about his handlers.

Regardless, the kid is athletic in terms of hops.

What have they lied about? Don't give me "reports" either. Show something they have lied about on the record.

His camp did repeat multiple times to the Athletic that Sharpe was going to return to UK next year.

Don't get me wrong I don't think that's a big deal (I think his handler has much bigger red flags than this), but ya I mean his mom says multiple times he's returning to UK. That was all a charade.

I think it was always presented as the "plan" was to return to Kentucky. However, anyone who thought he was coming back after being projected as a top 10 pick was being naive. Plans change.

Everyone wants to say "handlers" like there is something nefarious going on with these kids when it is his damn family and he is barely out of high school.

[clyde21]

love how family is called 'handlers' now.

they actually played it correctly from both a financial standpoint and NBA contract standpoint. they never really lied other than some rando unverified rumors out there.

anyone in Sharpe's situation should do the same thing. he doesn't owe Kentucky or the NCAA cartel anything. in fact Kentucky should be thanking him, now they get to slap their name on a top10 pick, something they won't get to do with crappy TyTy.

[NBA4Lyfe]

Wouldnt surprise me to see Sharpe go as high as #2. Sharpe is the ideal guy who rises in the draft process. He is a tremendous open court athlete and has a makable jump shot. Those guys tend to thrive in the pre draft process.

Plus the size and length. He's essentially a less athletic, bigger Jalen Green. It remains to be seen if he can be the 3 level scorer that Green is but he seems to have a lot of those characteristics, and in a bigger frame.

As you said, he's the type of guy with that athletic profile that should be a late riser once teams seem him in a gym and combine testing. I think this is the type of draft when you can take a big swing on his talent with the top prospects showing more flaws than normal for top prospects so I wouldn't be shocked to see him get some top 3 buzz as we draw closer.

He reminds me nothing of green. What does green weigh 185 lbs, this kid is defined in a James harden/Anthony edwards type of mold

[SeattleJazzFan]

From a year ago...

Read on Twitter

?s=20&t=5wZOHoysDsmEejvzCLU-aQ



Not that I can tell from this vid what he actually touches.
But I do wonder if he does the combine to prove it out. Probably not right?

the mj vertical number is fiction. there is no confirmed instance of him jumping 48". at this point it's just a number that gets repeated so often it "must" be true.

to be very clear, i'm not saying it can't be true - he was obviously an elite athlete, but just because it's believable, doesn't make it right. it's entirely made up.

[Duke4life831]

Wouldnt surprise me to see Sharpe go as high as #2. Sharpe is the ideal guy who rises in the draft process. He is a tremendous open court athlete and has a makable jump shot. Those guys tend to thrive in the pre draft process.

Plus the size and length. He's essentially a less athletic, bigger Jalen Green. It remains to be seen if he can be the 3 level scorer that Green is but he seems to have a lot of those characteristics, and in a bigger frame.

As you said, he's the type of guy with that athletic profile that should be a late riser once teams seem him in a gym and combine testing. I think this is the type of draft when you can take a big swing on his talent with the top prospects showing more flaws than normal for top prospects so I wouldn't be shocked to see him get some top 3 buzz as we draw closer.

He reminds me nothing of green. What does green weigh 185 lbs, this kid is defined in a James harden/Anthony edwards type of mold

Athletically speaking I would take Green with no hesitation over Sharpe though. Whatever advantage Sharpe has in strength (he's never really used it as a player), Green has the advantage in quickness, speed, lateral agility, and just overall shiftiness. I think Green has a much bigger advantage in those areas and uses those advantages more than whatever advantage Sharpe has in strength.

[buzzkilloton]

Plus the size and length. He's essentially a less athletic, bigger Jalen Green. It remains to be seen if he can be the 3 level scorer that Green is but he seems to have a lot of those characteristics, and in a bigger frame.

As you said, he's the type of guy with that athletic profile that should be a late riser once teams seem him in a gym and combine testing. I think this is the type of draft when you can take a big swing on his talent with the top prospects showing more flaws than normal for top prospects so I wouldn't be shocked to see him get some top 3 buzz as we draw closer.

He reminds me nothing of green. What does green weigh 185 lbs, this kid is defined in a James harden/Anthony edwards type of mold

Athletically speaking I would take Green with no hesitation over Sharpe though. Whatever advantage Sharpe has in strength (he's never really used it as a player), Green has the advantage in quickness, speed, lateral agility, and just overall shiftiness. I think Green has a much bigger advantage in those areas and uses those advantages more than whatever advantage Sharpe has in strength.

Greens like a top 5 athlete in the NBA. Sharpe is a top 3 athlete in his draft type. Both great athletes dont get me wrong but its like when people compare Ivey to Ja. Ivey is a damn special best in draft type athlete but there is a diff between him and Ja.

[Duke4life831]

He reminds me nothing of green. What does green weigh 185 lbs, this kid is defined in a James harden/Anthony edwards type of mold

Athletically speaking I would take Green with no hesitation over Sharpe though. Whatever advantage Sharpe has in strength (he's never really used it as a player), Green has the advantage in quickness, speed, lateral agility, and just overall shiftiness. I think Green has a much bigger advantage in those areas and uses those advantages more than whatever advantage Sharpe has in strength.

Greens like a top 5 athlete in the NBA. Sharpe is a top 3 athlete in his draft type. Both great athletes dont get me wrong but its like when people compare Ivey to Ja. Ivey is a damn special best in draft type athlete but there is a diff between him and Ja.

Agreed 100%. I think Sharpe is a great athlete. My only pushback when it comes to his athleticism is when these narratives come out that he has aa 49" vert and stuff. Those things get put out with the idea that people will see that and think he is some kind of once in a decade/generation kind of athlete.

Like I said before if a healthy LaVine, Green, Ant, and Sharpe were to play in an open gym together. I think most will come out thinking Sharpe is 3rd or 4th in that group. Coming in 4th in that group is no way a put down because those are all elite athletes.

[BlazersBroncos]

Sharpe looks like a good, powerful vertical athlete but Ja and Jalen are guys that can float and adjust in non-human ways in the air. Shaedon doesnt look like that type of athlete.

The Jason Richardson athletic comparisons are most apt IMO.

[BostonCouchGM]

As much as I like Banchero and feel like you should always take the bigger guy if it's close, I think I'm ready to move Sharpe to #1. He seems to have the Kobe type ability, personality, looks and upside. I'm talking face of the league type super stardom. He has head at the rim hops, can shoot and has a bag of tricks to get separation. The only question marks, because we haven't seen him play college, is whether he will devote himself on the defensive end and what kind of play maker he can and chooses to be. He has MVP type ability if he has drive. I think he's a more athletic Jaylen Brown if Jaylen had a good handle. Since Jaylen can put up 25-6-3 seasons I expect even more from Sharpe.

[SNPA]

Is he locked in at the 2 or can he thrive full time at the 3? Thoughts?

[CptCrunch]

Put Sharpe in a gym in the standard shooting drill, if he hits like 80+ 3's (out of 100), draft him #1 and forget the rest. Elite shooters like Wardell Curry can hit 94/100, JR Smith once hit 80 in a row.

If his shot is good on paper, I draft him over Paolo possibly, absolutely over Jabari without losing sleep. If he is truly elite from 3', I can make a case over Chet, but Chet is an unmissable prospect.

[tmorgan]

Any team that even considers drafting Sharpe without working him out hard, with competition, is stupid. If he refuses workouts, he slides to the back of the lottery, where the reward outweighs the risk.

That said, I think he’s the real deal, but I wonder if he has the mental makeup to be a top 10 player. He doesn’t have to have Kobe-level competitiveness, but i certainly don’t want to draft the next KPJ over any of these bigs.

Time will tell.

[CptCrunch]

Any team that even considers drafting Sharpe without working him out hard, with competition, is stupid. If he refuses workouts, he slides to the back of the lottery, where the reward outweighs the risk.

That said, I think he’s the real deal, but I wonder if he has the mental makeup to be a top 10 player. He doesn’t have to have Kobe-level competitiveness, but i certainly don’t want to draft the next KPJ over any of these bigs.

Time will tell.

I'm comfy drafting him him at #4 blind in this 'weak draft'. Ivey doesn't sell me. Benny Math, Griffin, Murray are all prospects with holes. The average outcome for a RSCI #1 ranked player is a 3rd pick (viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2186004).

[SelfishPlayer]

Shaedon has a body type that's a little bit different than some of these long limbed naturally thin uber athletes named in this thread. I believe that he will incorporate naturally a high degree of strength in his game very early well before mid career. Grant Hill is a guy not mentioned.